Pty Maker Cable Chain Holder

thingiverse

I want to build a 4 x 8 CNC router for cutting out designs in wood for a friend, as well as one for my maker space, and possibly spin it into a business manufacturing low-cost CNC routers for schools and the like in Panama. The machine's purchase might involve assembling it and performing some hands-on work. Hopefully, this will be done through our "currently being born" makerspace. As you can imagine, price, hands-on learning, and in-house production are fundamental parts of this proposal, as well as trying to save a buck whenever possible. For example, the metal structure of the machine will be plasma-cut from 1/8-inch steel, and some parts such as limit switch holders will be 3D printed. Looking at cable carrier chains, I saw an opportunity to not only save a couple of bucks but also add them to our in-house manufacturing list. As a bonus, we can personalize the links. There are a few other things we had to consider. Printing roughly 4 meters of chain one link at a time was out of the question, so we designed a pattern that would allow us to print as much as possible per iteration. In this case, a little over 60 cms per job (a little under 2 feet). The size should be as compact as possible (read fast) and as light as possible (read cheap) while still maintaining enough structure to handle the cable load. The part should also be printed in under 16 hours so that it would print during off-hours. Four iterations of this design were made, each a little lighter, smaller, and hopefully cooler-looking. As the size shrunk, we did a couple of touches on the hinge system to allow the hinge to be printed in place and then snapped free. The final product is ideal for a large CNC with a thick router cable, 3 limit switches, one NEMA 32, and 2 NEMA 24 stepper motors, with enough space left over for another thick cable and possibly the cables from another sensor or two. These cable holders are probably not for 3D printers. A set of 5 is approximately 47mm x 40mm x 200mm long. As with any remix, it would have been loads more work without the contributions of Landru and Rotoscan, both of whom did an awesome job. Thank you to both. Printed 4 trays already. Y and Z axes are done. Carefully take off bed and gently snap them together; they will assemble through the top as the base part has a taper on the side away from the maker logo. First-layer speed must be 5mm or 10mm/sec MAX, otherwise your parts might fail. Use 10% infill, 2 layers, 0.2 mm thickness, and level your print bed carefully.